The present invention relates to a bucket insert, more particularly, to a bucket insert which is adapted to fit buckets and wringers with different structures. The present invention also relates to a wash bucket having an said insert and a wringer for floor cleaning, which keeps clean wash liquid separate from dirty liquid.
In a floor cleaning process, a mop and a wash bucket are usually involved. A wringer is typically mounted to a wash bucket to wring the moisture from a wetted mop. During a cleaning process, the mop is dipped into a washing fluid contained in a bucket and is moved around the floor to remove dirt from the floor. In order to clean it, the mop needs to be wrung repeatedly with the wringer and washed by dipping it into the washing fluid. Dirty fluid squeezed out from the mop used to be returned to the clean washing fluid. Thus, the washing fluid in the bucket will be contaminated quickly.
Devices have been developed to overcome this disadvantage. U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,865 discloses a device for collecting dirty washing liquid and for containing clean liquid for wetting a floor-cloth for washing floors. The device includes a main container which supports a wringer and defines a compartment for collecting the liquid produced by wringing the floor-cloth, and a secondary container or insert which is mounted to the top portion within the main container and contains clean washing liquid for wetting the floor-cloth. Thus, the clean washing liquid is separated from the dirty liquid contained in the main container.
Although this device provides the advantage of separating the dirty fluid from the washing fluid, it suffers several drawbacks. First, because of the way the device is configured, the insert can only be fitted into certain buckets specially designed to receive the insert. Secondly, because the insert is mounted to the top portion of the bucket and is used to contain the clean washing liquid, the whole system is not very stable when first starting the cleaning as the washing liquid contained by the insert tends to raise and off-center the center of mass. Another problem is that there is no room for keeping the mop because the insert is not deep enough and it is not desirable to keep the mop in the dirty liquid of the main container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,307 discloses a bucket having separate reservoirs for segregating clean washing liquid form dirty washing liquid. The bucket contains a discharge transfer compartment with holes on its bottom wall for wringing a mop and draining the dirty liquid into a discharge storage reservoir which is located beneath the discharge transfer compartment and occupies the whole lower portion of the bucket. The floors of the discharge transfer compartment and the clean liquid reservoir are shaped with adequate slope or curvature so that particulate material discharged from a mop is caused to move to the lowest point for removal. However, this bucket does not use a removable insert. Instead, a discharge transfer compartment and a discharge storage reservoir are used. Because they are mounted nonremovably and contain holes and curvatures, it is not convenient to clean the bucket.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,841 discloses a bucket provided with a squeeze plate for squeezing a mop of the sponge-type material. The bucket has an inner bucket for containing clean washing liquid and a separate container for receiving a filter and the dirty liquid drained through the filter. The separate container or insert has a fixed size and shape determined by the dimensions of the filter and the squeeze plate (wringer), therefore, can not be used for other types of buckets and mops.
Therefore, there is a need for a bucket with an insert and wringer, which separates dirty wash liquid from clean wash liquid and overcomes the disadvantages that exist in the prior art as discussed above. Furthermore, there is a need for a bucket combination which does not require strict match in structures between the bucket and the insert.